If you grew up in the 80's, there's a good chance that Harold Ramis movies were a constant source of amusement (and most of your clever one-liners with your friends). His passing this week has brought up fond memories for many of us, and though he brought us a lot of great material, Ghostbusters stands out as one of his funniest movies. Why is such a memorable movie? It certainly isn't the special effects. One of reasons might be the fact that each member of the group brought such a strong and unique personality to the team. Each of them played a very specific role; and when they played off of each other, hilarity ensued. They created a … [Read more...]
The Confidence that Will Make You Comfortable on Zoom, on Stage, and in Zumba
Updated March, 2021 Years ago I read through Scott Berkun's Confessions of a Public Speaker and I came across the line: Know that your response to a mistake defines the audience's response. And I thought to myself, "Dude, you couldn't be more right." It's continued to stay relevant to me as I've moved beyond my normal public speaking and into the digital realm. Because now I can often see the mistakes I make in real-time! When you have a camera on you, and a little window of yourself in the corner of the screen, it can be a little intimidating. The Audience Only Cares if You Do And now everyone is a public speaker because of video … [Read more...]
Leadership Lessons from The Commitments
When people ask me about my favorite movies, they're usually unprepared for one of my top choices, The Commitments, the tale of a scrappy Dublin soul band struggling to break away from the travails of working class life. Even though many people haven't seen (or have even heard) of it, the exploits of Jimmy Rabbitte and his band have deeply influenced my approaches to music, business, and life. The fact that it's also full of witty Irish repartee and has a solid soul soundtrack helps a little bit. There are some powerful lessons on leadership that can be pulled from the story. Are you putting together a soul band or a new … [Read more...]
One of the Best Time Management Tools I’ve Found
I recently visited the Zen Garden at the Chicago Botanic Gardens, and found it a profoundly calming experience. Like many of us, I find myself bouncing around from activity to activity during the day. My mind is usually even more frantic as it works on what I need to do in the future and what I've done in the past. And, oh yeah, tries to pay attention to what I'm doing right now. For a few moments I was surrounded by the quiet in the Zen Garden. I could almost feel the cogs in my mind slowing down. My breathing became deeper and more relaxed. I was peaceful and felt a sense of clarity that is often elusive. When You Are Busy... … [Read more...]
Rock n’ Roll Bands and the New Entrepreneurial World
I remember reading Daniel Pink's Free Agent Nation a few years ago back and thinking, "This guy is on to something." Its description of an economy driven by the short-term partnerships of solopreneurs and freelancers turned out to be prescient. It's hard to define and a quickly-moving target. But the number of professionals working for themselves is trending up in a significant way. (here are some statistics for you). For many professionals, this new arrangement for business is overwhelming and a little scary. There's a lot of coming together and breaking apart and reforming into something new. It's conceivable to work with someone … [Read more...]
Small “v” Victories
Do you want 2 million people to show up and celebrate your victories? Unless you are a major league sports team like the Chicago Blackhawks and you just won the Stanley Cup, you might be waiting a while. Don't Wait for the Big Wins For most of us, that's a problem, because we keep waiting for the huge wins in our life to acknowledge our progress. We think that we can only feel successful on the days when something big happens like a graduation, a promotion, or a project completion. And so the feelings of success are few and far between. (You will still feel the rush of graduating only a handful of times in your life, for example, even … [Read more...]
Business Lessons I Learned from B.A. Baracus
I've read a lot of business books on team-building, delegation, and leadership. But some of the best lessons on teamwork are the ones I learned at my grandparent's house on Saturday afternoons when I was growing up. And I'm not talking about the wonderful things I learned by helping my grandma set the table or by playing cards with my grandpa (although they were pretty awesome). I'm talking about the A-Team. Every Saturday afternoon my cousins and I gathered around to watch the reruns of Hannibal and his crew while they protected some poor soul from the villain of the week and then jetted off just before the MPs got there. MBAs Could … [Read more...]